Limestone-particle-stabilized macroemulsion of liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide in water for ocean sequestration.

When liquid or supercritical CO2 is mixed with an aqueous slurry of finely pulverized (1-20 microm) limestone (CaCO3) in a high-pressure reactor, a macroemulsion is formed consisting of droplets of CO2 coated with a sheath of CaCO3 particles dispersed in water. The coated droplets are called globules. Depending on the globule diameter and the CaCO3 sheath thickness, the globules sink to the bottom of the water column, are neutrally buoyant, or float on top of the water. The CaCO3 particles are lodged at the CO2/ H2O interface, preventing the coalescence of the CO2 droplets, and thus stabilizing the CO2-in-water emulsion. We describe the expected behavior of a CO2/H2O/CaCO3 emulsion plume released in the deep ocean for sequestration of CO2 in the ocean to ameliorate global warming. Depending on the amount of CO2 injected, the dense plume will descend a few hundred meters while entraining ambient seawater until it acquires neutral buoyancy in the stratified ocean. After equilibration, the globules will rain out from the plume toward the ocean bottom. This mode of CO2 release will prevent acidification of the seawater around the release point, which is a major environmental drawback of ocean sequestration of liquid, unemulsified CO2.